Bloomberg (June 12)
“The owners of the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall are giving up the property to lenders, adding to deepening real estate pain in a city struggling to bring back workers and tourists after the pandemic.” Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Brookfield Corp. will default on $558 million in remaining debt. “San Francisco has been among the hardest-hit cities since the pandemic as office vacancies soar, retail vacancies rise and concerns about safety deter visitors.”
Tags: Brookfield, Cities, Debt, Default, Hardest-hit, Lenders, Mall, Office, Pain, Pandemic, Real estate, Retail, Safety, San Francisco, Struggling, Tourists, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Vacancies, Workers
Washington Post (September 16)
“Japan is inching closer to a full reopening, with an announcement likely in the coming days. But the country’s prolonged closure during the coronavirus pandemic has done lasting damage to its reputation as a destination for international investors, academics and tourists, experts say.”
Tags: Academics, Coronavirus, Damage, Destination, International, Investors, Japan, Pandemic, Prolonged closure, Reopening, Reputation, Tourists
The Diplomat (May 2)
“Two and half years on and Japan remains an outlier among industrialized G-7 nations, which have re-opened for tourists and eliminated quarantines.” The border restrictions “prevent Japan from benefiting from the weak yen,” which would “encourage inbound tourism and play a considerable role stabilizing the currency and creating jobs.” Nevertheless, “public opinion and the pernicious idea that COVID-19 is brought in by foreigners” seem to be driving debate, with international tourism “unlikely to be given the green light until the second half of the year following the result of the upper house election.”
Tags: Border restrictions, COVID-19, Currency, Election, Foreigners, G-7, Inbound tourism, Industrialized, Japan, Jobs, Outlier, Public opinion, Quarantines, Re-opened, Stabilizing, Tourists, Upper house, Weak yen
The Guardian (June 12)
“The problem with earthquakes is that they undermine the very things you do to prevent them. And with Tokyo now seeing millions of tourists a year, and expecting millions more for the Rugby World Cup this year and the Olympics in 2020, the city is ripe for panic in the event of a disaster.”
Tags: Disaster, Earthquakes, Olympics, Panic, Prevent, Problem, Rugby World Cup, Tokyo, Tourists, Undermine
Wired (August 26)
In a remote location, China built the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest. To reduce radio-frequency interference (RFI), China “forcibly relocated thousands of villagers who lived nearby, so their modern trappings wouldn’t interfere with the new prized instrument.” Once FAST was completed, the government then built up a tourist mecca “just a few miles from the displaced villagers’ demolished houses” and now “plans to increase the permanent population by hundreds of thousands…. potentially undercutting its own science in an attempt to promote it.”
Tags: China, FAST, Government, Relocated, Remote, RFI, Science, Tourists, Undercutting
Financial Times (January 29)
Though the Zika virus has been present in Africa since at least 1947, it only “arrived in South and Central America over the past two years and is now proliferating rapidly.” In addition to alarming the World Health Organization with its explosive growth, Zika has investors worried. “Shares in cruise operators and airlines took a hit on Thursday amid growing concerns that the virus could dissuade tourists from heading to the Caribbean.”
Tags: Africa, Airlines, Caribbean, Cruise operators, Investors, Proliferating, South America, Tourists, WHO, Zika
Bloomberg (March 25)
A recent poll showed that “only 11.3 percent of Chinese had a favorable opinion of Japan.” Nevertheless, “Chinese tourists can’t seem to get enough of Japan.” This apparent contradiction may be explained by the fact that only five percent of Chinese travel overseas. Still, there “is reason to hope that China’s growing wave of outbound tourists will serve as a force for openness and tolerance—if only so they’ll have somewhere good to shop.”
The Global Times (February 26)
“Japan used to dominate the global household electrical appliance market, but now consumers only recognize its toilet seats or rice cookers, which demonstrates the regression of its industry. The growing popularity of Chinese household electrical appliances has gradually squeezed the sphere which used to be taken up by ‘Made in Japan’ goods.” This makes it a shame “that Chinese tourists spent 6 billion yuan ($959.4 million)” in Japan, purchasing such items during the spring holidays” and also “makes a mockery of China’s boycott of Japanese goods.”
Tags: Boycott, China, Consumers, Electrical appliances, Industry, Japan, Regression, Rice cookers, Toilet seats, Tourists
Financial Times (April 3)
Chinese tourists are increasing in Japan, but they are positively flooding Seoul. “The streets of Seoul are full of Chinese tourists drawn by South Korea’s lavish department stores, its glamorous pop stars – and now its driving schools.” South Korea loosened its license requirements just as China tightened theirs, creating a new travel incentive. A license in South Korea is cheaper and only requires 13 hours of school versus 78 in China. As a result, Chinese students now outnumber Koreans at some South Korean driving schools.
Tags: China, Chinese, Department stores, Driving schools, Japan, Licenses, Pop stars, Seoul, South Korea, Tourists
